Best way to Store Coffee Beans
Thursday, July 30th, 2009There are many different suggested ways to store coffee beans in order to make the most of your bean to cup espresso machine and maintain coffee bean freshness. One of the suggested methods is to put your ground coffee or coffee beans in the freezer. Is storing coffee in the freezer a good way to maintain freshness? Let’s look at the pros and cons.
Freezing is a traditional method used to preserve food and in todays modern kitchen with a fridge or freezer it is easy and convenient Most food types can be frozen Meat, fruit & even bread can be successfully frozen with no major loss in taste and vitamin content. Unfortunately Coffee does not on the face of it have the characteristics of an item that would be suitable for freezing
Four main elements attack Coffee Beans stealing their freshness (and more importantly its taste
At first, freezing doesn’t seem to contain many of the offending enemies. However, appearances can be deceiving.
One problem is that the Coffee Beans are porous, and freezers are full of many strongly flavoured foods, odours and smells. The porous beans take on the flavour of the other foods in the freezer Flavoured coffees can be pleasant, but no one wants to drink seafood or garlic flavored coffee.
Due to their porous nature moisture can also be absorbed by the coffee beans. Moisture attacks the Beans and causes the taste and flavour to be lost The more often you take coffee out of the freezer and put it back in, the more moisture absorption takes place into the bean. The only time you should even consider freezing coffee is if you have too much for normal use, in this situation freeze it only the one time. The more you take it in and out of the freezer, the more damage you do.
Once frozen these oils in the beans begin to break down. The oils contribute to the flavour of the coffee. As the oils are broken down the coffee loses its flavour and the distinctive taste of the coffee is lost.
When it comes down to it, freezing is not the best way to store your coffee. Keep coffee stored in a cool, dry, airtight container away from light. Freezing coffee is possible, and is best if you only freeze it once. The resulting loss of flavour and quality from repetitive freezing makes it a method of storage to stay away from.
Your best bet is to purchase only enough beans or ground coffee to supply you for 1-2 weeks. That way you will enjoy Coffee from your Expresso Coffee Maker or Coffee machine at its freshiest and best.

















